Monthly credit aggregates, March 2023
Released: 2023-05-19
Household borrowing
In March, the total credit liabilities of households (including mortgage and non-mortgage loan debt) edged up 0.2% (+$6.9 billion) from February to reach $2,840.5 billion, a slowdown compared with March 2022 (+0.7%). Mortgage loan debt increased 0.3% for the fifth consecutive month in March 2023, while growth in non-mortgages decelerated to 0.02%. Real estate secured debt, composed of both mortgage debt and home equity lines of credit, rose $6.0 billion (+0.3%) to reach $2,278.9 billion.
Chart 1
Month-over-month change in household mortgage loans
Growth in household mortgage debt remains low relative to previous years
Household mortgage debt increased 0.3% (+$6.8 billion) to reach $2,110.2 billion in March, similar to the pace set in the previous four months and lower relative to March 2022, when mortgage debt rose 0.8% on a monthly basis. On an annualized basis, household mortgage debt grew 3.9% in March 2023, the pace of growth being similar to February (+3.9%) and higher than January (+3.4%).
Total existing home sales rose for the second consecutive month in March, with sales volumes growing 1.4% and the average sale price increasing to roughly $662,000. The average sale price in March represents 83.8% of the peak posted in February 2022. According to the New Housing Price Index, the national index was flat in March 2023 after declining 0.2% in February. The policy interest rate remained at 4.50% in March, after growing rapidly over the prior year from a low of 0.25% in early March 2022.
Chart 2
Year-over-year growth in household mortgage and non-mortgage loans
Household credit card debt grows at slower pace
Non-mortgage loan debt edged up 0.02% (+$0.1 billion) in March after rising 0.29% in February. On an annualized basis, the growth rate was 0.2% in March and 3.5% in February. Credit card debt with chartered banks grew 0.5% (+$0.5 billion) in March, decelerating from the 1.3% growth rate in February. Outstanding balances on home equity lines of credit decreased 0.4% in March after decreasing 0.3% in February.
Private non-financial corporation borrowing
Non-mortgage loan growth decelerates in March
In March, total credit liabilities (i.e., loans and debt securities) of private non-financial corporations rose 0.4% (+$8.9 billion) from February to reach just under $2 trillion ($1,996.9 billion). This represented a deceleration from the 0.9% increase in February.
Total non-mortgage loan liabilities of private non-financial corporations edged up 0.1% (+$1.0 billion) to reach $920.2 billion in March, decelerating after two consecutive months of faster growth. Non-mortgage loans from chartered banks rose 0.2% (+$1.3 billion) in March, a slower pace than February (+1.2%), while those from non-banks edged down 0.1% (-$0.3 billion) after increasing 0.4% in February.
Chart 3
Private non-financial corporation borrowing
Government non-mortgage loans to private non-financial corporations decreased 0.7% to reach $57.6 billion in March, a decline of 11.6% (-$7.6 billion) since the end of June 2021 (when the application period for the Canadian Emergency Business Account program closed).
On a seasonally unadjusted basis, private non-financial corporations recorded net issuances in debt securities for the second consecutive month in March 2023. Net issuances of long-term instruments (+$10.4 billion) were partially offset by net retirements of short-term instruments (-$1.4 billion).
Overall borrowing by private non-financial corporations, composed of the increase in the outstanding level of seasonally unadjusted loans and the net issuances of debt securities, was $12.4 billion in March, lower than the $13.6 billion recorded in February.
Note to readers
Unless otherwise stated, this release presents data adjusted for seasonality.
Annualized percentage changes shown in this release are calculated by taking the seasonally adjusted value for a given debt item and applying the following formula: ((debt[m]/debt[m-1]) ^ 12 - 1) * 100), where "m" is the reference month.
Revisions
This release of the monthly credit aggregates for the month of March 2023 includes revised estimates from January 2022 to February 2023. These data incorporate new and revised data, as well as updated data on seasonal trends.
Overview of the monthly credit aggregates
The monthly credit aggregates break down a portion of the quarterly national balance sheet accounts (NBSA) by month. They provide details on lending to households and non-financial corporations—in other words, the stock of these sectors' outstanding liabilities from the debtor perspective—across a range of credit instruments, including mortgage loans, non-mortgage loans and debt and equity securities. The aggregates cover all lending sectors, including chartered banks, non-bank deposit-taking institutions, other financial corporations, government and other lenders. The estimates are presented as booked-in-Canada to capture activity within Canada, with either domestic or non-resident lenders. In addition, amounts are reported on an end-of-period basis (i.e., the value of the stock of an asset on the final day of the month). The third month of each quarter is benchmarked to the corresponding quarterly release of the NBSA.
Household sector borrowing is divided into financing in the form of non-mortgage loans (i.e., funds principally for consumption) and mortgage loans (i.e., debt acquired to finance the purchase of a property, whether residential or non-residential in nature). Household borrowing in the form of mortgage debt and home equity lines of credit is referred to as real estate secured debt and presents a further delineation of household liabilities associated with residential and non-residential properties.
As with the household sector, non-financial corporation borrowing is divided into non-mortgage and mortgage loans. However, overall credit liabilities of non-financial corporations also include their borrowing in the form of debt securities, with terms to maturity that are both short term and long term in duration.
The NBSA are composed of the balance sheets of all sectors and subsectors of the economy. The main sectors are households, non-profit institutions serving households, financial corporations, non-financial corporations, government and non-residents. The NBSA cover all national non-financial assets and all financial asset-liability claims outstanding in all sectors and, similarly, present stocks at the end of each quarter.
Estimates are available on a seasonally adjusted basis to improve the interpretability of period-to-period changes in debt. For information on seasonal adjustment, see "Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions."
For more information on the concepts, methodologies and classifications used to compile these monthly estimates, please see the document "Guide to the Monthly Credit Aggregates."
Next release
Data on the monthly credit aggregates for April will be released on June 19.
Products
As a complement to this release, the documents "Guide to the Monthly Credit Aggregates" and "A preview of revisions to the Financial and Wealth Accounts, 1990 to 2022," which are part of Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts (13-605-X), are available.
As a complement to this release, the data visualization products "Financial accounts on a from-whom-to-whom basis, selected financial instruments," "Distributions of Household Economic Accounts, Wealth: Interactive tool" and "Securities statistics," which are part of Statistics Canada – Data Visualization Products (71-607-X), are also available.
The Economic accounts statistics portal, accessible from the Subjects module of the Statistics Canada website, provides an up-to-date portrait of national and provincial economies and their structure.
The User Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-606-G) is available.
The Methodological Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-607-X) is available.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
- Date modified: